ARTICLES ABOUT OBSERVATION DECK BY DATE - PAGE 2

When I sent out a message on Facebook on Tuesday alerting my friends on the social-networking site that I was heading to The Ledge, the series of glass bays that extend just more than 4 feet outward from Sears Tower and let you look 1,353 feet straight down, an old college roommate responded with mock sympathy. "Don't do it -- please don't do it!!" he wrote. "We'll get through this!" "Sorry to disappoint you," I typed back upon returning. "I made it back alive." I don't want to get too serious about what is essentially a tourist attraction.

Why buy the whole building when you can buy just the view and the customers? The owners of the John Hancock Center have put the observation deck, Signature Room restaurant and lower-floor retail space up for sale, a striking example of looking for profit by subdividing a building and selling it in pieces. The division of an existing building among different owners dates back decades, but industry observers say it has grown increasingly popular in recent years, as has the construction of new buildings intended to be owned by multiple tenants or investors.

1. Mr. Incredible Devin Hester scores twice, breaks Gale Sayers' record for return TDs and single-handedly keeps the Bears in the game. Oh, and he wears No. 23. 2. Yo, Adrian So, Bears fans, did you like what you saw out of running back Adrian Peterson after Cedric Benson got hurt? Remember, the Broncos have one of the worst run defenses in the league. 3. False start Green Bay won Thursday; Minnesota won before the Bears game started. The Bears lose even when they're not playing.

After seven years and millions more than initially estimated, the Millennium Carillon in Naperville is complete and about to open to the public. The 14-story tower with 72 bells was proposed as a community service project with a price tag of about $2.5 million and an expected unveiling on Jan. 1, 2000. It ended up costing more than $6 million, but the Naperville community will have an amenity that will last for generations, Mayor George Pradel said Wednesday. "In about 10 years, we're going to say, 'Why didn't we do that sooner?

Indian leaders and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin awaited their chance Tuesday to walk beyond the edge of the Grand Canyon during opening ceremonies for a glass-bottom observation deck that lets tourists gaze deep into the chasm. Hundreds of invited guests gathered at this remote reservation to dedicate the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped structure that extends 70 feet beyond the canyon's edge with no visible supports above or below. Hualapai Indians allowed a Las Vegas developer to build the $30 million Skywalk in hopes of creating a unique attraction on their side of the canyon.

Cubs President John McDonough said Tuesday he has been doing "a lot of listening" since taking over for Andy MacPhail last October. "I've seen probably 2,000 games, so I know about the game," he said. "But I'm not a `baseball guy,' nor do I purport to be. I'm not going to give [manager Lou Piniella] any advice on when to pitch out, but I'm going to make a lot of observations and go from there." McDonough had a lot to say in his briefing at HoHoKam Park. Here are some of his thoughts and observations: On whether the Cubs will be sold in the next two years: "I really don't know.

A Lake in the Hills resident wants to buy a village-owned landmark--a century-old silo next to his property--and put an observation deck atop the 38-foot structure. James Baloun owns a home just yards from the silo, which stands at the entrance to Nockels Park on Hilltop Drive on the north shore of Woods Creek Lake. Baloun wants to buy the silo and next to it build a garage resembling a 19th Century barn. He told the Village Board on Tuesday that he would restore the silo and add an observation deck for personal use. Baloun said kids regularly break into the silo and climb rusty foot-and-hand holds on the concrete walls.

How do you shake your groove thing on a rocking boat? That question came to mind as I carefully navigated my way through the crowded dance floor on the observation deck of the Mystic Blue yacht, which on weekends turns into Club Mystic, a floating dance club that leaves Navy Pier for a two-hour, post-midnight tour. I had to brace myself along the railing of this 165-foot yacht to take notes, making sure my trusty pen didn't drop into Lake Michigan. (Several times my photographer mentioned that she couldn't quite steady herself to take pictures.

This Memorial Day weekend, Chicago fills with visitors. And every year around this time, it ticks me off that downtown Chicago doesn't have one live show in a tourist-friendly neighborhood that showcases this city's historical and musical heritage. And no, Tommy Gun's Garage--at 773-RAT-A-TAT--does not count. Nor do a few bars of Frank Sinatra in that crummy little movie at the Sears Tower observation deck. This lack is particularly irritating this year, because the Northlight Theatre in Skokie is doing "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues," a stellar and superbly performed Broadway-caliber blues revue that follows the trajectory of the music up the City of New Orleans tracks from the Mississippi Delta all the way to the South Side.